tisdag 6 augusti 2013

Vegan reply to plants, sentience and 'Do you agree that our moral charge towards organisms relies on their degree of sentience'

Ron,
There is a difference between reacting on stimulus and between being sentient.
Plants are not subjectively aware, i.e. they are not sentient. They don’t feel
any subjective pain.

Yes, they react. But that doesn’t imply that they
are sentient.

“Do you agree that our moral charge towards
organisms relies on their degree of sentience?“
No, either you are sentient or you are not sentient. If you are sentient, you
value your own life even if no one else is valuing your life. You have an
inherent value. The speciecism of many humans doesn’t change your inherent
value.
If you are not sentient, you are not subjectively aware, you are a thing and
not a being.

Philosophies that grant different value compared to different sentient species
are speciecist. This is discussed here: http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/do-chimpanzees-dolphins-and-elephants-matter-more/

“Plants have nervous systems with many neuronal
connections.”
No, they don’t. Their stimulus response is caused by chemical reactions.

It is well-known scientifically that animals
are conscious and feel pain, and that plants are not conscious and don’t feel
pain.
See e.g. this about plants: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=do-plants-think-daniel-chamovitz“Plants exhibit elements of anoetic
consciousness which doesn’t include, in my understanding, the ability to
think. Just as a plant can’t suffer subjective pain in the absence of a
brain, I also don’t think that it thinks.”

About me

"“Thanksgiving dinner's sad and thankless. Christmas dinner's dark and blue. When you stop and try to see it From the turkey's point of view.
Sunday dinner isn't sunny. Easter feasts are just bad luck. When you see it from the viewpoint of a chicken or a duck.
Oh how I once loved tuna salad Pork and lobsters, lamb chops too Till I stopped and looked at dinner From the dinner's point of view.”
Shel Silverstein
"Animals do not 'give' their life to us, as the sugar-coated lie would have it . . . They struggle and fight to the last breath, just as we would do if we were in their place." [John Robbins]